How to lose 9lbs in 10 days.

This weeks blog music is 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts which is not only a wicked, upbeat slice of snarling guitar-pop it's also the walk-out music for UFC Bantanweight champion Ronda Rousey who fought again this past weekend, winning by knockout in 34 seconds flat.  I'm a huge MMA fan and Ronda is amazing, history in the making level stuff.

Healthy eating is awesome. Look at that feckin' steak!

The weekend before last we had the inaugural 12 Rounds Sports Day on Clapham Common.  We had a good turn out and games of rounders, egg & spoon race, sack race, picnic blankets, Pimms (quite a bit of Pimms actually) and then all off to the pub for more games and encroaching drunkenness, I don't really drink a lot these days and felt decidedly pissed after a day in the sun and a few pints. All very British, all very charming, very silly and a good day all around, even old Dan's crippling social anxiety seems to be firmly on the back foot these days, who'd have thought being healthier could do so much for your mental health eh? (Loads of people as it turns out).  But Sports Day was the bold line under my little break and getting back to business.

So I lost 9lbs in the 10 days since, impressive eh?  Wanna know my special secret?  Well the main part of it is to put on 9lbs in the previous 10 days, and if you then get your arse back in the gym and clean the diet right up it all just falls right back off, I think my metabolism actually reacted well to having to deal with ingesting a load of crap for a little while, keep it on it's toes y'know?  So I effectively maintained the same weight for in 20 days - probably not a dieting plan I could sell to the masses but a good lesson in why you shouldn't believe amazing headlines like the one above. It's true, but it's not all the way true.  Also as I've talked about before the scale hardly tells the whole story anyway, I've fit into clothes this week that have been hanging in my wardrobe for ages without me every being close to being able to fit into before, so my body's changing even what the scale isn't and that feels like much more of an accomplishment. There's no secrets, quick fixes or magic tricks to losing fat and getting healthier:

Eat lots of green stuff.

Don't eat things made in factories.

Move around more.

Do the above consistently and long-term.

That's a gross Dan shaped sweat puddle in the ring.  One of these days
I'm going to weigh myself before and after a hard session.

I've really the been enjoying the moving around more part as much as ever, I think the break did me good.  More sparring at 12 Rounds at the weekend and although I got pretty thoroughly battered I feel like I'm starting to understand what I need to do.  I'm pretty confident hitting the bags or pads or working movement drills in the gym and I can see the theory of what I need to do playing out in front of me, the next stage is just putting it together in the live situation - piece of cake I'm sure.  A bit like the diet really, it's one thing to know the theory, that you should avoid the pizza and eat the salad, it's something else to do that while being repeatedly punched in the face, head and ribs.  Yep - I'm pretty happy with that metaphor and am sure I have suffered no ill effects from sparring.

Myself, Hollie and Jo from our 12 Rounds Facebook nutrition/support group.
This photo was taken at 7.30am on a Monday and we are SMILING.  Exercise is like witchcraft.

Thanks for reading.  Here's a pomeranian doing the greatest sneeze in the history of dogdom and a baby elephant chasing birds.

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